


Here On Earth

by sparklebitca



Category: NSYNC
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 12:51:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17366174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklebitca/pseuds/sparklebitca
Summary: JC is oblivious to most things!





	Here On Earth

**Author's Note:**

> written around 2004

"Hello! Ground control to JC!"

JC blinked. Chris was standing in the middle of the aisle, in front of him. He looked frazzled. It was his hair that made him look that way, JC decided; when it stood up in little spikes like that, that usually meant Chris had been running his hand through it repeatedly. Unless he had gelled it like that, which he did sometimes. JC sighed happily. Chris looked so cute with his hair like that.

"Right here, dude, I'm right here. I'm the one talking to you." Chris waved a hand in front of his face, drawing his gaze away from Chris' hair and down to his incredulous eyes.

"Hmmm? Sorry, what?"

Chris stared. "Dude, you thinking up a record of the year? I've been hollering at you for five minutes."

"Really?" JC thought for a moment. "Wait, were you in the back of the bus?"

"Yes, JC. If you'll recall, that's where the Playstation is. My Playstation? That I said I'd be playing when I went to the back of the bus an hour ago?"

"Oh, well, see?" JC smiled, pleased to have worked it out. "I couldn't hear you from back there."

Chris opened his mouth. He shut it again without a word, shaking his head. The dark, spiky tufts of hair shifted with the motion - so he hadn't gelled it, then. It was definitely cute when he gelled it - well, actually, it was cute pretty much all the time. The braids had been cute too. JC wished his hair was cuter. He was wearing it a little longer these days, and was thinking about growing it out even more, but he hadn't really decided on that yet. Maybe when they went on hiatus-

"JC? You with me? Still talking to you, dude."

JC nodded instantly, not wanting to lose Chris to the Playstation so soon. Chris played a lot of Playstation, JC was noticing lately. Had he always played that much? JC was noticing a lot of things about Chris lately, that he didn't think he'd ever noticed before - like the way his forehead wrinkled when he was concentrating on a particularly tricky dance combination, or the way his eyebrows spiked towards his hairline when he was impatient.

Oh.

"So, you were calling me?" he asked brightly. Chris placed both hands on JC's shoulders and leaned in until his face was mere inches away. JC looked obediently up at him, enjoying the expressive warmth of Chris' gaze. He had never really noticed Chris' eyes before either.

"I'm gonna ask you again, C. Try to stay focused on the sound of my voice." He was. He thought it was just about the nicest sound he'd ever heard. "What did you do with my stash?"

"Huh?"

"My stash, C - packed with peanuts, really satisfies, hidden behind the videos?"

"Oh, your Snickers?" JC's heart sank. He felt he knew what might be coming. "Are they, um, not there?"

"There, they are not. They are gone, bag and all. And I didn't eat them. What'd you do with them?"

JC furrowed his brow. "I don't eat stuff like that, Chris."

"Yeah, but you're the only one who knows where I hide them. Logically, that means either I must know where they are, or you must know where they are. And I don't know where they are. Soooo-" he stared at JC expectantly.

JC bit his lip. "Well, um . . . um, yeah, Joey might know too."

"Joey? Why does Joey know?!"

"Um . . . " JC ducked his eyes. "I, uh, I might have told him, or something. Accidentally." Chris was probably going to get angry now - he took his Snickers very seriously. He felt bad. He didn't want Chris to be angry. He wanted Chris to be happy, and sit up in the front of the bus with him, working on his laptop and humming along with JC as he counted out new harmonies. Harmonies came easier to JC when Chris was in the room. He wondered when that had started to be the case. He looked at Chris again. Chris was now pacing, hands on his hips, casting a glare towards JC every so often, and muttering furiously about the sanctity of the Snickers stash.

"-like friggin' spinach to Pop-Eye, man, and I can't just leave them around here, you know that, Joey's an animal, man, there's a reason I asked you to help me hide them in the first place, I swear to freakin' christ-"

JC hung his head, feeling terrible. He hadn't meant to tell Joey, he really hadn't, but Joey had tickled it out of him, and then he had forgotten all about it. He shouldn't have forgotten about it. He needed to pay more attention to stuff. Chris always paid attention to stuff, idiosyncrasies and important things. Chris was responsible like that. Chris was a good friend. JC should be a better friend, less absent-minded, less distractable. Then Chris wouldn't get mad at him. Even though Chris was really cute when he was mad at him.

"Huh?" Chris paused mid-pace to stare at him, and JC realized that he might have possibly said that last bit out loud. He really, really needed to pay more attention to stuff.

"Did you just say I'm really cute when I'm mad at you?"

JC nodding, blushing, and ducked his head, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. He should probably try to deny it or something, or play it off as a joke. He was thinking of how he could do that - like, maybe he should try to be sarcastic? But he couldn't always pull off sarcasm convincingly - when Chris tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, C - I'm not mad at you, ok?"

JC blinked. "You're not?"

"No, man. I'm irritated at best. Don't get all-" Chris gestured with his hand. "-all how you get, you know. I'm not mad."

Wow. OK. Maybe he lucked out and Chris had glossed over the whole 'cute' thing. But he sort of wished that Chris had been paying attention to that part too.

"But, um, the Snickers-"

"International pop sensation, remember?" Chris grinned at him. "I think I can manage to obtain more Snickers. But dude." He pointed a finger in JC's face. "No more blabbing to Joey. If you must blab, blab to Lance. The Snickers stash must be kept sacred in the future."

"Oh! You're letting me know the new hiding spot?"

"Duh," Chris said, his tone softened with affection. "You help me hide my shit. That's your role as my sidekick. Hello? Have you not been paying attention all these years?"

JC flushed with pleasure. Chris still trusted him. Chris was so cute when he was trusting and earnest and nostalgic.

"But seriously, C, you can't talk to Joey anymore. Ever. About anything." Chris fixed him with a stern eye. "He'll tickle you. He'll tickle you and break you and make you spill all your secrets."

JC's breath caught. "My secrets?" he echoed.

"Yeah." Chris reached out to brush a strand of hair off JC's face. "Like how cute you think I am." JC froze, and Chris' hand stilled in JC's hair, touching it ever so slightly. "Let's just keep that between you and me. It's a better secret when it's just us who know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Chris looked at him, and for a moment, his eyes smoldered with heat and promise and JC felt his world cloud over and his mouth go dry. Then Chris winked, and the moment was gone, and JC flushed all over again.

"So hey," Chris said cheerily. "I'm gonna go switch off the game and get my laptop. 'S cool if I sit out here while you work?"

"Oh, um, yeah." JC nodded vigorously. "Definitely."

"Cool." Chris turned and headed to the back of the bus, wriggling his fingers over his shoulder as he went. JC sighed and bent over his notebook. So cute. So, so cute.


End file.
